Agouti Music Interviews
Joel Meets Rilo Kiley

By Joel Edelman

March 6, 2002 (interview took place February 27, 2002)

A stroke of luck provided me a primo parking space, and I was 10 minutes early for my appointment with Rilo Kiley, a Southern California foursome led by vocalist Jenny Lewis. They were to play that night at Cafe du Nord on the second night of Noise Pop, an annual music festival held in San Francisco.

As I waited for them, the clock struck and surpassed seven bells, and I began to worry a bit. The doorman at Cafe du Nord told me they had gone out to get something to eat but that they would be back soon. At 7:10, up walked Lewis and bassist Pierre de Reeder, each holding a plastic bag filled with burrito goodness.

"Oh! So good!" Lewis said, biting into some of El Farolito's finest. "Why is it that San Francisco has the best burritos?"

We walked inside Cafe du Nord and had a seat. In between bites, they filled me in on what was new with Rilo Kiley, including recording in Nebraska, what snow is like when you're surrounded by it and just how cool it is to be part of Noise Pop.

Guitarist Blake Sennett and drummer Jason Boesel were visiting friends in the city, so this conversation would be an intimate threesome. If they were half as funny as Lewis and de Reeder, then the four of them must have a lot of fun together.

The followup to their first album on Barsuk Records, Take Offs and Landings, is just about ready to be recorded. "We're recording our record in Nebraska, starting on (March 2)," Lewis said. Look for that to come out later this year. But recording in Nebraska? That can be a tough drive if the weather doesn't cooperate.

"One time, on our way back from Omaha -- we had toured with a band called The Good Life; they're from Omaha, and they let us stay for four or five days, and they were really nice to us." Lewis continued, "And we were on our way back, and we got stuck in a blizzard in Wyoming off of (Interstate) 80. It was brutal. We had to pull off in our van outside of a truck stop, and the snow was coming down, and we were afraid to take the same path (on our next trip to Nebraska)." I assured them that the weather looked good, but as de Reeder pointed out, while there -- they plan on spending a month or so recording -- it would undoubtedly snow at one time or another. Could these Californians handle it?

"Snow is a bummer, for sure," Lewis mused. "I always wear Converse, and we're in the snow in Wyoming, and I stepped out in the snow, and I went like this." She motions with her hand, palm down, and lowers her arm to the ground.

"My only pair of shoes. One pair," de Reeder, who also exclusively wears Converse, thinks aloud while pointing to the floor.

"One pair of Converse," Lewis remarks. "Even though you got three pairs at Christmas?"

A Kevin Devine song plays in the background, as de Reeder and Lewis work on their burritos and knock back their respective cups of horchata. These are the two biggest horchata fans in Rilo Kiley. de Reeder takes the lid off of his and examines the best part of horchata: the cinnamony goop that lives at the bottom of every cup. Lewis decides to save the rest of her burrito for later. "There's no salmonella on the road," she says.

This is Rilo Kiley's first appearance at Noise Pop. Unfortunately, with a show the next day in Moraga at St. Mary's College and then just two days to drive to Nebraska, there is no time to see the other 80 bands play. "There are some great bands playing this year, as always," Lewis says. "I feel pretty fortunate that we're part of Noise Pop culture." She added that they had played at North by Northwest and South by Southwest, but they felt that they belonged here.

After recording, Rilo Kiley will return to Southern California, but they will be back April 14 for a show in Los Gatos at the Outhouse.

"We are?" asked a surprised de Reeder after I mentioned this upcoming show to him. “Oh yeah, back here.” Rilo Kiley found out about the venue on the way back from a tour last summer. The show will be all ages and alcohol-free. It certainly will be a good opportunity for younger fans to get to know this band.

The Noise Pop show was the first of what will be many days away from home, and for de Reeder, it is the first time he will be away from his three-month-old daughter, Sophia. “I haven’t really been away yet,” de Reeder observed. Sophia is with his girlfriend, Melissa. “If only we had one of those video phones,” Lewis wondered aloud.

It was getting late, and the doors would be opening in less than an hour. Lewis and de Reeder mentioned multiple times of their love for El Farolito and San Francisco. I’m sure they will return with Sennett and Boesel again and again.

Their set that night was 35 minutes of raw energy, and with a blend of songs from the upcoming album and old favorites, such as 85 and Always, they got the crowd going and the cameras flashing.

But for now, it’s time for them to take to the road, and Rilo Kiley is driving down Interstate 80 in their big ol’ touring van, stopping at truck stops and hoping for no snow all along the way.